(Audio)
You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky;
why do you not know how to interpret the present time?
The sign given to this generation is Jesus (see Matthew 12:39, Isaiah 7:14). He himself is what they fail to interpret correctly. He calls everyone to repent and believe the Gospel. Just to behold the way he lives in the world is such a call even before his words are heard.
We need Jesus in order to repent. When we struggle without his grace we find ourselves unable to overcome sin.
For I do not do the good I want,
but I do the evil I do not want.
Even though we can absolutely affirm that we desire righteousness and the law of God we find that we of ourselves are more or less captives to sin. At this point, and again every time we struggle, we are presented with Jesus and his call to repentance. Will we accept what he tells us about ourselves, about sin, and about salvation? Will we turn to him to be saved?
Miserable one that I am!
Who will deliver me from this mortal body?
Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Jesus can help us settle our debts now or we can pay them the hard way.
I say to you, you will not be released
until you have paid the last penny.
We need to realize that now, in this time of mercy, is a much better time than later. Now, Paul tells us, is the acceptable time. Now is the day of salvation (see Second Corinthians 6:2). Let us not wait for Purgatory to pry from our grasp the sins to which we cling. Let us turn toward the loving gaze of Jesus, which itself already causes our grip on them to loosen. Let his Holy Spirit flow into us, through our bodies, our arms, and our wills, releasing all else to which we hold so recalcitrantly, now so much dust in the wind.
God puts this desire for the good, the true, and the beautiful deep within us precisely so that he can fulfill it.
Let your compassion come to me that I may live,
for your law is my delight.
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